Colne, White (All Saints)

COLNE, WHITE (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Halstead, Witham division of the hundred of Lexden, N. division of Essex, 4 miles (E.) from Halstead; containing 419 inhabitants. It comprises 1467a. 2r. 33p., chiefly arable, and is bounded on the south by the river Colne; the lands are generally elevated, and the soil of light quality. The living is a perpetual curacy, or donative; patrons and impropriators, the family of Hume: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £345, and the perpetual curate's for £135; the glebe comprises a quarter of an acre. The church, by the name of Colne mi Blanc, was assigned by Aubrey de Vere, founder of Colne Priory, and confirmed by Aubrey, his son, to the monks at Colne: after the Dissolution it was given to John, Earl of Oxford, and became a donative or curacy. It is an ancient building, with a square embattled tower formerly surmounted by a spire. The Roman road from Colchester passes on the south of the parish.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, 7th edition, published in 1848.